GIANT STEP TO WORLD-CLASS MANAGEMENT

Angela Smith MP, the Environment Minister, made DOEs Environment and Heritage Service draft management plan for the Giants Causeway and Causeway Coast World Heritage Site available for public consultation and comment today.

Angela Smith said: The Giants Causeway is a site dear to many people in Northern Ireland and there will be great interest in the proposals to ensure the sound management of this iconic landscape.

The Giants Causeway and Causeway Coast site is not only of global importance as a geological feature, it is also Northern Irelands premier tourist attraction. With visitor numbers likely to grow in the years to come, it is essential that we have a robust management plan in place to ensure that the site is not physically damaged and the experience of visitors is not compromised by insensitive site management.

This management plan for the World Heritage Site is a key component of a multi-stranded initiative that I announced in 2003 with Ian Pearson, Minister of Enterprise, Trade and Investment, to ensure that the site remains a world-class visitor attraction, managed to sustain the natural environment and the local economy. The other two components are a tourism masterplan for the wider Causeway Coast and Glens area and an international competition for a replacement visitor centre.

UNESCO, the organisation responsible for the designation of World Heritage Sites requires a management plan for the Giants Causeway and Causeway Coast site also. The plan addresses key issues such as conservation requirements and visitors access, including on-site safety.

Consultation with a range of interested parties and experts has been carried out and the draft plan is now in the public domain for comment.

NOTES TO EDITORS:

  1. The Giants Causeway and Causeway Coast site, an area of 71 hectares, was inscribed as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1986. The site is of outstanding universal value and meets two of the criteria set out in the World Heritage Convention, namely:

    (i) it is an outstanding example representing major stages of earths history, including the record of life, significant on-going geological processes in the development of landforms or significant geomorphic or physiographic features;

    (ii) contains superlative natural phenomena or areas of exceptional natural beauty and aesthetic importance.

  2. The Giants Causeway and Causeway Coast site is also Northern Irelands premier tourist attraction with over 400,000 visitors per annum. The World Heritage Site is largely owned and managed jointly by the National Trust (the stones, hotel, headlands and cliff top paths) and by Moyle District Council (the carpark and site of the visitor centre).
  3. UNESCO officials visited the Giants Causeway and Causeway Coast in February 2003. The report of this mission requested that a management plan be submitted to UNESCOs World Heritage Centre by February 2005.
  4. The plan has been jointly produced by EHS and the main owners of the site, the National Trust and Moyle District Council. The consultation period closes at the end of November 2004.
  5. For further information see www.ehsni.gov.uk/natural/designated/WHS.shtml and news media enquiries tel. DOE Press Office 028 9054 0003.